Georges St-Pierre Injured: Will He Be The Same Fighter When He Returns?

The UFC suffered a huge blow to their Super Bowl weekend card when it was revealed that Georges St-Pierre blew out his ACL during training and has been forced to withdraw from UFC 143. 

UFC President Dana White confirmed the news via Twitter.

"GSP blown acl will be out for 10 mos. Now Condit vs Diaz for the interim welterweight title on Feb 4th in Las Vegas!!" White wrote. 

The UFC has now been forced to react immediately and put together an interim title bout between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit. The decision will likely produce a very low buyrate, as UFC 143 was expected to draw a huge rating due to St-Pierre's presence; he is arguably the biggest draw in the company.

This is now the second injury that has prevented the UFC welterweight champion from performing inside the Octagon in two months, which might lead some fans to believe he has become injury prone.

St-Pierre recently turned 30 years old this past year, and it is possible he doesn't compete again until late 2012, when he will be 31 years old.

The reality is that St-Pierre will have gone over a year without competing, and it won't necessarily benefit him to be out of action for an extended period of time while he is in his prime. 

It's evident that an ACL injury does not always heal properly; even worse, it can affect a fighter's performance dramatically. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has continuously battled through an ACL injury as well as multiple knee injuries throughout his UFC career, and he has never lived up to his potential. 

However, Rashad Evans returned after being out of action for 14 months with a knee injury and looked to be in great physical shape.

The likelihood of witnessing St-Pierre return in top condition at this stage in his career is still very possible, but it appears as if the extent of the injury could prevent him from performing at 100 percent ever again. 

Here's hoping St-Pierre makes a full and successful recovery.